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Beastie Boys and Toy Company Settle Lawsuit Over Ad’s Use of ‘Girls’

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Beastie Boys and Toy Company Settle Lawsuit Over Ad’s Use of ‘Girls’

By Dave Itzkoff March 18, 2014 12:02 pmMarch 18, 2014 12:02 pm

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A screen shot of the GoldieBlox video on YouTube.Credit

A San Francisco-area toy company that found itself in a public dispute with the Beastie Boys said on Tuesday that it had reached a settlement with that hip-hop group over its use of the band’s song “Girls” in a popular viral video. In November, the toy company, GoldieBlox, gained widespread attention for a video which showed girls building an elaborate Rube Goldberg device and singing a version of that song with alternate lyrics celebrating their scientific achievements. GoldieBlox filed a lawsuit against the Beastie Boys, asserting its right to use the song in its video; the band countered that the video was “an advertisement that is designed to sell a product,” and that it does not allow its songs to be used for such purposes. The band filed a copyright infringement suit in December. On Tuesday, a press representative for GoldieBlox said that suit had been settled, adding in a statement: “That settlement includes (a) the issuance of an apology by GoldieBlox, which will be posted on GoldieBlox’s website, and (b) a payment by GoldieBlox, based on a percentage of its revenues, to one or more charities selected by Beastie Boys that support science, technology, engineering and mathematics education for girls.” A press representative for the Beastie Boys confirmed these details of the settlement.